Former Minister of Economy of the Stavropol Territory Valery Sizov was sentenced to two and a half years of probation on charges of embezzling 33.000 euro allocated for the construction of a fire station.

Sizov, who served as Minister of Economy of the Stavropol Territory in 2017-2019, was found guilty of participation in embezzlement as part of a group that also included the ex-head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the region, Alexander Ivanitsky.

Sizov fully admitted his guilt and entered into a pre-trial agreement on cooperation with the investigation. The Industrial District Court of Stavropol sentenced him to 2.5 years probation and fined him 500 thousand rubles. The verdict of the court has not entered into legal force and can be appealed.

In the Stavropol Territory, five people were arrested in the case of corruption in the traffic police department this summer. The head of the department, Alexei Safonov, ended up in the pre-trial detention center, he is accused of creating an organized criminal community and taking bribes totalling more than 19 million rubles. The footage with chandeliers, frescoes and gilding in the house of the head of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate caused a wide discussion on social networks.

In March, the deputy chairman of the government of the Stavropol Territory, Alexander Zolotarev, was arrested. He was detained at the airport when he was trying to fly out of the regional capital. Zolotarev is accused of taking bribes worth 60 million rubles. A few days later, another deputy chairman, Roman Petrashov, was arrested. He was accused of accepting bribes worth 130 million rubles for guarantees to conclude contracts for the development of gas and oil fields.